Pickpocket and coat-thief detector



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

Patented June 28, 1892.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

` J. F. HURD.

PIGKPOGKET AND COAT THIEF DETECTOR.

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J. F. HURD. PIGKPOGKBT AND GOAT THIEP DETECTOR. No. 477,940. Patented June 28, 1892.

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YUNrrEiu STATES JOHN F. I'IURI), OF

PATENT Ormes.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PICKPOCKET ANiD COAT-THIEF DETECTOR.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent NO. 477,940, dated June 28, 1892. Application filed October 2, 1891. Serial No. 407,553. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN F. HURD, a citi- Zen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Pickpocket and Coat-Thief Detector, which are fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of thisinvention is to provide a device adapted to be connected to or located at or within the pocket of a garment, by which an alarm may be sounded in case of any unauthorized intrusion into the pocket while the garment is suspended on a hook or peg, or in case of the removal of the garment, such device being designed for use in coat-rooms of hotels, barber-shops, or other public or partially public places intended for temporary safe-keeping of such garments.

In the drawings, Figure l is a diagram comprising' a vertical section through a pocket containing my appliance and a front elevation of the hooks upon which the garment is suspended, showing the pocket device, part of the supporting base-plate of said hooks being broken away to show interior parts, the pocket detective device being shown in position set for detecting intrusion. Fig. 2 is a similar section of the pocket and the detective device therein, with the parts in the position to which they will be forced by an intruding hand. Fig. is a vertical section through a pocket containing a modied form of the device with the parts set to detect intrusion. Fig. 4 is a similar section of the same, with the parts in the position to which they would be forced by intrusion into the pocket. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a still further modification of the pocket device set to detect intrusion. Fig. G is a similar view of the same device in position after intrusion. Fig. 7 is a diagram comprising a detail elevation of a loop or eye and connections therefrom designed to be attached to the garment as a means of suspending it upon any support to cause the alarm to be operated by intrusion into the pocket by means of a battery carried in the garment. Fig. 8 is a section at the line 8 8 on Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is a vertical section through the garment at the pocket, showing a false pocket in connection with the circuit making and breaking device of the form illustrated in Figs. 5 and G. Fig. 10 is a detail of that circuit making and breaking device in position ready for setting it. Fig. ll is a de tail front elevation of the garment-supportin g hooks and the base on which they are pivoted, and connected mechanism, the same as is shown in Fig. l, the hooks being in the position which they assume when theyare relieved of the weight of the garment. Fig. l2 is a section at the line l2 l2 on Figs. l and 8.

In all the modifications of my invention there is present a circuit making and break ing device attached to the garment and a flexible connection from the same which extends across the pocket-space in position to be encountered by an intruding hand and caused to operate the circuit making and breaking device to close the circuit.

In the form shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the pocket a itself constitutes the flexible connection across the pocket-space, while in other forms (illustrated in Figs. l to yi) the iiexible connecting-piece extends within the pocket and may be encountered before the pocket itself would be necessarily moved enough to operate the device. A false pocket or movable pocket may also be employed, inserted with in the principal or true pocket to serve the same purpose, the false pocket being in that ease provided with means for holding it normally open, so that the intruding' hand will pass into it instead of passing outside of it into the true pocket.

In the form shown in Figs. l to +L the circuit making and breaking device includes twometallic terminals B 32 of an electric circuit B, which terminals are suitably secured to any comparatively rigid non-conducting base l) and are adapted to be in contact and close the circuit at that point, but are adapted also to be separated to open the circuit.

In the form shown in Figs. l and 2 a third element is also present in the pocket-to wit, an insulating-wedge C, adapted to be inserted between the two terminals B and B2. This wedge is connected to the otherwise free end of a piece of tape or cord C', which is secured to the inner surface of the forward side of the pocket below the point of fastening to the same surface of the flap or inutile ICO ' erate the alarm.

A. In the circuit B, at any convenient point, either in the garment or elsewhere, according to the'mode of use of the device, there is located an energizing-battery D and an alarmbell E. To operate the device in the form under any flap, as X, which may be present,

or, in the absence of such flap, lodged in any way at the upper part, the strip being made so light that the ordinary pressure of the material of the garment will hold it if it is notL disturbed. rlhe flap or mnffle A will preferably be left drooping between the point of its fastening to the forward side of the pocket and the stiff strip A', so that a hand intruded into the pocket will encounter the'flap in said drooping portion, and very slight movement after such encounter will dislodge the stiff` strip and push it down onto the tape C and cause the latter to pull the wedge C out from 1 between the terminals D and D2, which, coming into contact, will close the circuit and op- The iiap A may be of such length and the strip A may be so securely engaged at the upper part of the pocket that without dislodging said strip the pressure of the intruding hand in the drooping portion of the flap will cause the latter to force the tape O downward and disengage the wedge of the terminals.

In the modified form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the tape C is dispensed with and the flap i containing the stitfening-strip A becomes the insulator to be inserted between the terminals B and B2. I prefer when employing this construction to construct the terminals B' and B2 somewhat differently from the construction shown in Figs. l 'and 2 for convenience ot' iuserting and removing the edge of the flap when set in the device. The terminal B2 in this modified form is pivoted on the base l), and a spring B3 (seeFig. 10) is secured to the base acting upon the heel of the pivoted terminal B2, so that it tends to hold the piece B2 in contact with the vother terminal when it is thrown down and to hold it out-that is, protruded, as seen in the drawings-when it is lifted to that position. This facilitates inserting and removing the edge of the flap by the op erator when setting and unsetting the device.

In the third modification (shown in Figs. 5 and 6) the terminal B2 is pivoted on the base b, so thatit is alever-switch adapted to swing vertically in the plane of the pocket-that is, parallel with the base lJ-the whole device being located within the garment outside the j 1illustrated involves a secondary purpose, 1 which it is desirable to combine with the purl pose of the construction thus far describedto wit, the sounding of an alarm when the pocket and secured at any convenient point to the garment, one end of the switch-lever being connected to the pocket either directly or by means of intervening tape, the other end of the switch-lever being in position to breaking device.

make contact with the other electrical terminal when the pocket is in its normal condition-that is, hanging freely in the garment; but when the lever is rocked so as to carry it out of contact with the other terminal the pocket is pulled or hitched slightly out of normal position, so that depressing the pocket,

as will be done by an intruding hand, will pull the lever into electrical contact with the other terminal. When this form of device is employed, a convenient way of providing means for setting it is to connect to the switch-terminal B2 a cord C2, which may extend through ahole or eye S in the body of the garment, so that it can be reached from the inner side, where it may be fixed or buttoned fast, so that the operator, reaching it with the hand and pulling it up, will throw the contact-making 'end of the switch-terminal B2 down out of contact with the terminal B. This form of device may be secured inside the true pocket :land outside of a false pocket, which may be connected to the lever-switch, as described. Such false pocket is an equivalent of the mui'tle or flap described above and may be vused in lieu of that device,in connection with the forms of circuit making and breaking devices shown in Figs. l to 4. In that case the vmargin of the false pocket should be provided with a stiftening cord or wire to hold it vslightly open, so that the hand of an intruder will naturally enter the false pocket instead of passing outside of it into the true pocket, and thereby possibly avoiding operating, closing the electric circuit.

All of these forms of the device involve the employment of the electric circuit running `from the two terminals, respectively, either :to the two suspending-loops G G, which are either made of or lined with electrically-coni ducting material, as fine-woven wire fabric G',

to which the circuit-wires are joined, or to a 1 suspending-loop such as is illustrated in Fig.

7, which comprises a circuit making and The first method*to wit, the two loops lined with conducting material-involves the use of a pair of hooks H II,

insulated from each other on their supportgarment may be suspended from both of `them, one loop G being engaged with each hook II, a battery D and bell E being provided in circuit between the two hooks, so that when the garment is suspended from both of y the hooks, as described, there is a circuit from the battery to the bell, and thence to one of the terminals in the pocket and from the other terminal back to the battery, the circuit being complete when the terminals are 1n contact and broken only at that point when they are out of contact.

The particular construction of the hooks coat is lifted from the supporting hook or IOO IIO

hooks. For this purpose l pivot the hooks Il upon the insulated portions of the base H', which is represented as mounted on a slab M of non-conducting substance, as wood, l'l.2 representing an insulatin gstri p between said portions of the divided base, and carry the circuit-wires from the battery and bell to the two portions of the base, such connections being represented at h 7L. Each of these insulated portions ofthe base has a point 7a2, which projects across the insulating-strip H2 on the back or under side of said base, and the hooks H have each a heel or tail H3, which extends behind the base and is provided with a springlip terminal h3. Springs H"l H3l are provided for each of the hooks, tending to hold them in the position shown in Fig. l2, with their garmentsupporting ends uplifted, and in this position the spring-terminals h3 on the tails H3 ot the hooks are respectively above and below the projections l'l2 H2 of the opposite part of the base. The play of the hooks on their pivots is such that when they are depressed at the outer end by the weight ot the garment thereon the tails move past the projections H2, respectively, the spring-lips h3 striking said projections as they pass and making for an instant electrical connection therethrough from the onehoek to the opposite base and thereby te the opposite hook. When the garment is suspended from both hooks, the circuit which connects their bases is interrupted. lf the garmentis lifted from either hook, the rocking of the hook as impelled by its spring closes the circuit for an instant and sounds the alarm. It the coat is lifted from both hooks, the alarm will probably be struck twice, since the two contacts cannot be absolutely simultaneous; but in any event whichever hook is relieved of the weight will close the circuit and cause the alarm to sound.

The circuit which is closed byintrnsion into the pocket while the garment hangs on the hooks H H is as follows: Frein the battery D by the wire b to the bell E, thence by the wire h2 to the binding-screw 7L and right-hand halt' of base H', thence to the right-hand hook H, pivoted on said base, thence te the metallie lining G of the right-hand loop G, thence by the wire h3 to one of the terminals ll ot' the detective device in the pocket, and from the other terminal 132 bythe wire b to the metallic lining B of the left-hand loop G, thence to the left-hand hook H, thence to the lefthand portion of the base l thence by the binding-screw 7i pertaining to said left-hand portion of the base, and by the wire b5 back te the battery. If the garment is lifted so that the right-hand hook is relieved of its weight, the circuit which operates to ring the bell is as follows: From the battery D by the wire h to the bell, thence by the wire b2 to the binding-screw h and the right-hand base ll and right-hand hook ll, thence by the tail Il3 through its sprin g-termin al h3, making mo mentary contact with the projection 7b2 of the left-hand base H te said left-hand base, left- `will be made between the tail-pieces h3 and the projections 7a2, respectively.

lt will be observed that the portion of the circuit comprising the battery and bell is utilized, also, as a portion of the circuit which extends through thc coat between the two loops and through the detective devicein the pocket; but a battery and bell for this latter circuit may be located anywhere in the garment, but in that event the two hooks will be electrically connected and may be buta single hook with which both the loops will be engaged, so that it will make electrical connection between the loops. In lieu of such a mode of use I provide the automatic contact making and breaking device illustrated in Figs. '7 and S, which is also adapted to serve the same purpose as the pivoted hooks above described-to wit., sounding an alarm if the garment is lifted from the supporting-lieok when the battery and bell are in the garment. This device comprises a non-conducting baseplate M, which is fastened to the garment, and upon which are mounted two metallic parts N and 0, the former being a loop or eye by which the coat may be suspended and being adapted to slide longitudinally with respect to the base M, the movement which it obtains relatively to the base when the weight of the garment is sustained by it being such as to withdraw it from contact with the contact-piece O, a spring N being provided tending to resist such withdrawal and draw it back into contact when it is relieved of the weight of the coat-that is to say, when the coat is not suspended by means of it on the hook. On the base M there is mounted a third contact-piece l), with which the sliding piece N comes in contact when it is pulled by the weight of the garment out of contact with the contact-piece O. The battery and bell in the garment are in a circuit which runs from the battery by the wire Z2 to the bell, thence by the wire b2 to the slide N, thence to the contact-piece l), thence by the wire b3 to one terminal of the detective device in thepocket, and from the other terminal of said detective device by the wire h" to the contact-piece O, and thence by the wire h5 back to the battery. This device, it will be evident, is complete, except as to the insulation which may exist in the detective device in the pocket whenever the garment is suspended by the eye at the end of the slide N. XVhen the coat is lifted from the hook, the sliding contact-piece N, breaking its contact with the contact-piece P, closes a short circuit through the battery of the portion of the and bell independently larger circuit which extends from the contactpiece O to the pocket and therein to the contact-piece P. Said short circuit is from the battery by the wire b to the bell,thence by the wire b2 to the slide N, thence to the contact-piece O, and thence by the wire b5 to the battery.

I claiml. In combination with a garment, an electric circuit, the generator which energizes such circuit, an alarm-bell in the circuit, such circuit comprising a circuit making and breaking device secured to the garment, and a flexible partition interposed between the pocket-entrance and such circuit making and breaking device and completely obstructing access to the said device through the pocket-entrance and connected to said circuit making and breaking device and adapted when depressed to operate the same to close the circuit, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with a garment, an electric circuit leading to a pocket of the garment, and a generator which energizes such circuit, and an alarm-bell in the circuit, said circuit comprising two contact-makin g pieces secured to the same side of the pocket within the latter, a contact-breaking piece adapted to be inserted and withdrawn from between said contact-making pieces,a flexible connection from said insulating-piece to the opposite side of the pocket, and the muffle or false pocket A, located within the pocket above said flexible connection piece and adapted to be depressed thereonto to cause it to withdraw the insulating-piece by the intrusion of a hand into the pocket, substantiallyas set forth.

3. In combination with a garment, an electric circuit extending into a pocket of the garment and comprising a circuit making and breaking device adapted to be operated to close the circuit by intrusion into the pocket, a generator which energizes said circuit, an alarm-bell in said circuit, two suspendingloops attached to the garment and made of or comprising in their inner surfaces electricallyconducting material which forms part of the circuit, said loops being insulated from each other, whereby the circuit is interrupted or closed between said loops, according as said loops are or are not connected by electrical conductors, substantially as set forth.

4. In combination with a garment, an electric-circuit comprising two parts, one of said parts comprising a battery and an alarm and the other part comprising a circuit making and breaking device at the pocket of the garment, and a suspending device consisting of two insulated parts which respectively connect the two lines of the divided circuit, and a spring' which is put under tension by the weight of the garment and when relieved thereof reacts against one of said insulated parts to bring it into electrical connection with the other, whereby a short circuit is closed through the battery and bell, substantially as set forth.

5. In combination with a garment, an electric circuit comprising contact-making pieces adapted to be separated to break the circuit, and connections by which they are operated at the pocket, electrically-insulated suspension-loops on the garment, made of or lined with electrically-cond uctin g material, forming part of the circuit,a pair of suspension-hooks adapted to receive the two loops, respectively,

.of the garment, said hooks being electrically insulated and connected by a portion of the electric circuit, and a generator and an alarmbell in said connecting portion of the circuit, substantially as set forth.

G. In combination, substantially as set forth, a garment-suspension hook, a oase to which it is pivoted, aspring tending to tilt the hook when relieved of the weight of the garment, an electric circuit of which the hook constitutes one terminal, a generator and an alarmbell in said circuit, and a contact-makin g piece insulated from the hook and constituting the other terminal of the circuit, the hook having a tail-piece adapted to make contact with the other terminal during the upwardtilting movement of the hook, whereby the circuit is closed and the alarm operated when the garment is lifted from the hook.

7. In combination, substantially as set forth, a pair of garment-supporting hooks insulated from each other, springs pertaining to the hooks, respectively, to tilt them upward when relieved of the weight of the garment, and an electric circuit connected to both hooks, said hooks having tail-pieces adapted to make electrical connection with the other hook or some part electrically connected therewith during the upward-tilting movement of the hook, whereby either hook, being relieved of the garments weight, operates to close the circuit and sound the alarm.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two witnesses, this 28th day of September, 1891, at Chicago, Illinois.

JOHN F. HURD.

Witnesses;

CHAs. S. BURTON, JEAN ELLIOTT.

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